Friday, August 14, 2009

The Past 10 Years

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About our Family

I hope you all are enjoying Kimmy's scrapbook & the family slide show because it took me forever to make them!

Now I'll fill you in on our family traditions and what's been going on the past 10 years...

Birthdays:
Usually we let the birthday person decide where to go for dinner, or I'll make something they request. I always make the birthday cakes and we have to sing "Happy Birthday" and blow out candles!
Kimberly's choice of birthday cake, as you may have noticed from the pictures, used to be chocolate with confetti icing. On her 10th birthday, she made the switch to cheesecake. We'll see how long she sticks with that.
Albert usually chooses German Chocolate, Vanilla Rum Cake, or Italian Rum Cake (that's difficult to make, thank goodness for the internet!)His favorite place to eat is either Olive Garden because of the unlimited salad, or Red Lobster because it's the only time he can get shrimp. (I don't do sea-bugs!)
I usually choose to eat at Vallarta's, the local Mexican Restaurant, and I usually ask for Angel Food cake w/ strawberries. (Albert actually made the cake one year!)

Holidays:
Most of the time we gather at my house for the holidays. It's us plus Albert's dad & brother. I always plan these huge meals with lots of side dishes and a few desserts, & I get all stressed out and cranky. I'm trying to work on that. I refuse to make the meals smaller so I need to adjust my attitude! I've learned to plan far ahead & make some thing a few days prior!
Our favorite holidays are Halloween and Christmas. Unfortunately we have to share Kimberly with her mother, so whoever has her for Halloween does not get her for Christmas. The next year we switch.

Halloween:
When we have Kimberly for Halloween we take her Trick-or Treating of course. I think Albert enjoys this more than Kimberly because he always takes a pillowcase and empties her bucket so she can go to more and more houses! We stay out until nobody answers their doors anymore.
When Kimberly is at her mothers for Halloween we enjoy passing out candy. We decorate the house & try to make it look spooky w/ lights, spiderwebs, bats, graveyards etc. We also play really loud scary music. Jimmy, Albert's brother, comes over & we all dress up like scary monsters. I usually sit at a table by the front door while the guys hide so they can jump out & scare the kids. Most of the neighbors really enojy it!
Also, Albert & I try to make it to either Bush Gardens or Universal Studios to go to the Haunted houses. We take Kimberly to Zoo Boo because she's not ready for the really scary ones yet!

Christmas:
Albert is very particular about Christmas - at least about the gifts. We are not allowed to put any gifts under the tree until Christmas Eve because Santa doesn't come until Christmas Eve. I usually wrap the gifts and hide them in closets, but sometimes we both wrap on Christmas Eve. Then once Kimberly goes to sleep he arranges the gifts around the tree so that all my gifts are together in one place, all his are bunched together in another place, and all of Kimberly's are together in her place.
We also have an unspoken contest with the neighbors about decorating the house. Every year he buys more decorations and more lights - especially if he sees that the neighbors have something new. It's fun, but it's also hard work. And, since it's in the middle of hunting season, I have to nag him to take the lights down after the holidays. (Once the lights were up until June - how embarassing!)

Other traditions:
Albert loves to buy fireworks for New Years and 4th of July. (We are allowed to shoot off the HUGE ones right in our neighborhood! CRAZY!)
We try to go to the fair each year in February.
Albert and I go camping a few times after hunting season ends. (Kimberly doesn't really enjoy camping)
We have been NASCAR fans ever since we went to watch a race in Daytona in 2005.
The three of us always watch American Idol together.
Albert & I love going to concerts.
We try to have a family game night at least once a week.


Well, I hope I didn't bore you with too many details. Although I was covering 10 years, I tried to keep it short & sweet. Overall, we try to keep it simple and have lots of fun together!

Watch Kimberly Grow

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Thursday, August 6, 2009

Cutest Dog Competition

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My First Blog

Bear with me all, for this is my first ever blog!

I am an avid facebook user and from there I've seen many of my friends' blogs. I truly enjoy seeing the "scrapbook" of their lives, and hope they will be interested in mine as well. I know my family back home in OK will enjoy it, so here goes!

P.S. I figure I might begin with a few highlights of the past 10 years or so. This way, I can catch you up on my life and practice using this new tool!